Desert Stars (26 page)

“
What’s the
difference?”

A small crowd began to gather around
them, making Mira wish she’d never said anything.

“
Consider the prisoner who
refuses to submit to his imprisonment. Is he truly a prisoner? So
long as he opposes his captors, they will never own his
spirit.”

But he still isn’t
free.

“
My child,” Rumiya
continued, “there is no choice without sacrifice. In order to
obtain one thing, we must give up another.”

“
But what if we don’t
obtain what we choose?” Mira whispered.

“
I never said that we
would—only that the world we live in is inevitably the world of our
own choosing. Put differently, you could say that life is the sum
of our sacrifices.”

A sinking feeling grew in
Mira’s stomach, and her breath came short and quick.
The sum of our sacrifices.
What had she sacrificed to be with Jalil? Her honor? But no,
that was what had driven him away.
If only
I hadn’t obeyed Mother—

Realization struck her
like a knife in the gut.
Lord of
Earth,
she thought to herself, arms
trembling as her vision blurred.
Why
didn’t I go with him?

“
Is everything all right,
my child? You look as pale as a ghost.”

Mira blinked and shook her head until
her mind cleared. “It’s fine,” she said softly. “I’m—I’m
fine.”

“
Are you sure?”

“
Yes.” She took a moment
to compose herself, all too conscious of the growing crowd around
her.

“
What if we make the wrong
choice?”

Master Rumiya’s face grew solemn, and
he put a hand on her shoulder. “It is never too late,” he said.
“Remember, the Truth is within you—though some things may be lost,
you can always choose again. No prisoner is beyond
redemption.”

How?
she wondered, feeling twice as ashamed as before.
How can I choose again, now that he’s
gone?

* * * * *

The desert sun shone bright in Mira’s
eyes, making her squint as she disembarked from the spaceplane. A
warm wind blew over her face, and sweat began to form on her
forehead. She pulled her headscarf a little tighter to shield
herself from the desert heat and boarded the bus to the
port.

Tin-roofed hangars lay scattered
across the concrete launching pads of the New Amman spaceport,
while the giant glass mountain of Aliet Dome loomed high on the
horizon. Inside the terminal, dozens of desert tribesmen mingled in
the crowded corridors, their flowing robes and checkered
headscarves reminding Mira that she was not that far from home.
Instead of comforting her, however, the thought made her hands
shake.

“
Mira!” came a familiar
voice as she arrived at the baggage claim belt. She turned and saw
Hamza, the Jabaliyn driver, shouldering his way through the crowd
to greet her.

“
A thousand welcomes,” he
said as he took her carry-on bag from her. “How was your
journey?”

Terrible.

“
Long,” she admitted. “But
God-willing, soon it will be over.”

“
God-willing,” said Hamza,
nodding in agreement. “Had enough of Babylon, eh?”

For some reason, his comment made Mira
think of the wide oceans of Terra 2 Dome, stretching in all
directions toward the nearly unbroken horizon. She remembered
staring out across the water, the breeze in her hair, and found
herself at a loss for words.

“
Never mind,” he said.
“Praise Allah, you are back.”

They retrieved her other bags and left
the air-conditioned spaceport for the sun-baked desert. Though
dozens of officials manned the busy desks and metal detectors
guarding the way in, no lines or checkpoints obstructed the way
out.

“
That is as it should be,”
Hamza muttered, as if reading her thoughts. “A man can only be free
under the open sky.”

As they walked down the dusty concrete
road toward the stone wall separating the spaceport from a wide
parking lot full of caravaneers, two girls in black robes and
headscarves came around the corner to meet them.

“
Mira!” shouted Surayya,
running towards her with open arms. “Praise Allah, you’re
back!”

Mira smiled and laughed as her sister
wrapped her arms around her and kissed her almost a dozen times on
both cheeks. Mira returned the embrace.

“
It’s so good to see you
again, Surayya.”

“
May the peace of Earth be
upon you.” said the other girl. It was Tiera. She stood with folded
arms, looking on from a distance. She wore her headscarf loose,
with strands of hair blowing in the hot wind. Her face was
unreadable.

“
Hello, Tiera,” said Mira,
embracing her half-sister. “It’s good to see you.”

“
And you,” said Tiera,
hugging her back a little stiffly. “You look like you’ve had a long
journey.”

“
And there’s plenty more
of it left, girls,” said Hamza. “Better get a move on it—the sun
won’t be up forever.”

“
Thank Allah for that,”
muttered Surayya, wiping her brow. “It’s so hot.”

“
Yes,” said Mira. She’d
forgotten how hot it could get in the desert.

While Hamza carried Mira’s bags toward
the waiting caravaneer, Surayya hesitated and looked back toward
the spaceport.

“
Where’s Jalil?” she
asked.

Mira’s cheeks blushed deep red. “He,
ah, he’s not with me.”

“
What do you
mean?”

“
She means he didn’t come
back with her,” said Tiera. “Now let’s go.”

Surayya’s face instantly fell. “Good
Lord—he didn’t—”

“
It’s all right,” said
Mira, giving her a fake smile.

“
Let’s move, girls!”
shouted Hamza. He was already in the driver’s seat of the waiting
Jabaliyn caravaneer.

Surayya leaned in close. “That stupid
man,” she hissed. “When we get the chance, you’ll have to tell me
everything.”

Mira cringed. That was what she was
afraid of.

* * * * *

They drove all that day and long into
the twilight, until the light of dusk had completely faded and the
stars and satellites shone brightly in the night sky. Hamza set up
camp in a sandy niche between two giant boulders; from the tire
tracks across the ground, the spot seemed to be a popular stopping
point among the local tribesmen. Sheltered in their tent from the
cold breeze of the desert night, the girls quickly fell
asleep.

Except for Mira.

After laying there for almost an hour,
she decided to get out and stretch her legs for a bit. Careful not
to disrupt her sisters, she rose from her cot and slipped on her
robes. She didn’t bother with the headscarf, however—the four of
them were the only people for miles, and the steady snoring from
the other tent told her that Hamza was already fast
asleep.

Outside, the air was surprisingly
chill. She folded her arms and walked barefoot across the sandy
ground, still warm from the day’s sun. The sky was moonless, but
the familiar stars and satellites shone bright enough to light her
way. It had been too long since she had seen them—ages, it seemed.
The last time had been the awful night with Jalil, when
she’d—

No,
she told herself, a host of destructive emotions swelling up
again within her.
Don’t think about
that.

She walked some distance from the
camp, to a slight rise about a hundred yards away. The surface
there was a mixture of sand and crusty gravel that cut her feet, so
she stopped and lay down, staring up at the night as her body
absorbed the warmth radiating from the ground.

“
Beautiful, isn’t it?”
came a voice from behind her.

Her heart skipped a beat, and she
quickly sat up. It was only Tiera, though. Relieved, she caught her
breath and clutched at her chest.

“
Oh, Tiera,” she said.
“You surprised me.”

Her half-sister shrugged and sat down
across from her, hair tossing a bit in the chill night
breeze.

“
I don’t suppose you’ve
seen the stars in a long time,” Tiera said simply.

“
No,” said Mira. “I
haven’t.”

An awkward silence fell between them.
Mira shifted uncomfortably.

“
How have things been back
home?” she asked.

“
Decent,” said Tiera.
“Lena and Mazhar are fitting in well with the rest of the
camp.
Shira
is trying to marry off
Surayya. Nothing much has changed—nothing ever changes.”

Except that Jalil isn’t
going to be there anymore.

“
What are people saying
about me?” Mira asked.

Tiera turned and looked her in the
eye. “To be honest, there are a lot of rumors about you. The fact
that Jalil isn’t coming back is only going to hurt you.”

An uncomfortable silence descended on
them. Mira tensed a little, afraid of what Tiera wasn’t saying. She
and Jalil had shared a close relationship—much closer than he and
Mira ever had.

“
I’m sorry,” Mira said
abruptly, surprising them both.

“
For what?” Tiera
asked.

“
For trying to—well, for
coming between you,” she said. “I don’t know what went on between
you and him, but—”

“‘
Between’ us?” Tiera
asked, frowning. “What do you mean?”

“
Well, you always spent a
lot of time together, and I thought that maybe—”

“
That maybe we had
feelings for each other?”

“
Well, yeah.”

Tiera threw back her head and laughed.
“You thought we had something romantic going on? That’s hilarious.
Mira, Jalil is my brother. Nothing more.”

“
Ah,” said Mira, relaxing
considerably. “So you weren’t upset when I left for the temple with
him.”

“
Not because of any
feelings for him, no. But yes, I wish I’d been the one to go—and
frankly, if you had any feelings for him at all, I’m surprised that
you didn’t leave with him.”

Mira cringed.
I wish that I had.

“
I don’t know,” she said
softly. “I guess I hoped—”

“
Hoped what?”

She swallowed. “Hoped that he would
choose to stay.”

Tiera’s gaze turned harsh. Even in the
darkness of the night, Mira could feel it.

“
So that’s why you left,”
said Tiera. “You wanted to seduce him, didn’t you?”

Mira hesitated. Guilt stabbed
her.

“
Yes,” she
admitted.

For several moments, neither of them
said anything. The wind whistled softly as it blew across the
desert, the only sound breaking the hostile silence.

Tiera rose to her feet. “So the rumors
are true,” she said, her voice low and full of contempt. “You
manipulative little whore.”

Without another word, she walked back
to the camp. A lump rose in Mira’s throat, but the tears would not
come. Though she longed to cry, her eyes were as dry and empty as
the lonely wastes around her.

Chapter 13

Jalil watched as Mark and Michelle
both unbuckled their seat restraints and floated up to the ceiling.
With her hair waving about like wisps of sand in the wind, Michelle
looked like an otherworldly being. He tried to imagine what Mira
would look like; her hair was almost three times as
long.

“
What are you waiting
for?” Michelle asked, giving him a funny look. “Aren’t you coming
with us?”

“
Uh, sure,” said Jalil. He
hesitated for a moment before unbuckling his seat restraints, but
when he did, the once-heavy belts floated easily aside, as if they
were made of air. A jolt of panic surged through him as he realized
that he, too, was floating. Instinctively, he grabbed a handhold on
the ceiling and steadied himself.

“
Well, come on,” said
Michelle. Behind her, Mark keyed the door; it opened with a hiss
and a burst of cool air.

“
Insulation still needs
work,” he muttered. Michelle cursed under her breath.

Jalil took a deep breath and pushed
off with his hands. Even with such a gentle thrust, however, he
soon drifted off course. His feet caught in the row of seats ahead
of him, and he banged his head on the wall.

“
Ouch!” he said, rubbing
his head as he floated back up. Michelle laughed.

“
Don’t worry, you’ll get
the hang of it.”

She led him through the first and
second doorways, into another closet-like chamber. This one,
however, had the second door embedded in the floor—or was it the
ceiling? Without gravity to orient him, Jalil didn’t
know.

Michelle grabbed a handhold in first
doorway and spun herself around so that she was upside down,
heading feet first through the hatch. Without batting an eye, she
caught the railing of a ladder and pushed herself up.